Eric Dier and Mousa Dembélé on Tottenham’s Loss to Gent Away
Tottenham’s latest defeat has them one foot out the door in the Europa League, but a 1-0 deficit to Gent isn’t difficult to overcome. Which is why Eric Dier and Mousa Dembélé are anticipating a better result at Wembley Stadium next week.
A 1-0 loss to Gent away is not the end of the world for Tottenham. It was not a good performance, but nothing to be concerned about as Spurs can still win this match-up.
Eric Dier confirmed that much in his opening statement when looking back on the match, with Mousa Dembélé adding a bit more at the end.
“In football, I don’t think you can ever take the highs too high and the lows too low,” Dier said “That’s key – and we won’t.”
“It’s a couple of bad games [Liverpool and KAA Gent] and we need to get over it. Maybe we’ll talk together and see what’s going on but we’re experienced enough to turn it around.”
Related Story: Match Report: Gent 1-0 Tottenham
Indeed, this is something that Spurs must move on from, though this was just another reminder that there are teams out there who can rise up to the challenge and put on a better performance than even Tottenham.
Which, Dier believes otherwise. In any event the central defender understands that a 1-0 lead can change quickly in a two-legged match-up. And with the return leg at Wembley, Spurs will be raring to go.
“I thought it was quite even in the first half, maybe they were on top but we handled it well. We were aggressive and on the front foot and that’s one thing we were disappointed with at Liverpool and we improved in that way.” Dier explained.
“At the start of the second half we were doing well, getting more and more into the game, getting more on top and that’s when they scored, in our best spell.”
“That was a bit of a sucker punch. After that, it was difficult to turn it around. It’s only half-time in the tie though and we’ll go to Wembley believing we can turn it around.”
It appeared that Spurs took Gent too lightly however that wasn’t the case, which Eric Dier went on to explain: “No, I don’t think so. We had the right attitude, we were aggressive. We didn’t take it lightly at all”
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“We knew it was going to be difficult, we knew they would fight and that the atmosphere would be good here.”
“We knew we would have to be at our best and I just don’t think we were for long enough periods in the game.”
Dembélé’s view on the game was similar. That this would be tough outing to begin with, as this was an away match.
A European away match at that. A difficult atmosphere with the home supporters outnumbering the Tottenham travelers.
That being said, like Eric Dier before him, Mousa Dembélé knows a 1-0 lead is easy to overcome with Spurs hosting the second leg next week.
“It was a difficult game for us. They were sharp and just about on top in every action and you can lose a game like that,” Dembélé said.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game because they have a lot of quality in their team. Now we need to make it up and win at Wembley.”
“We know we have enough quality. We haven’t had the success we’d hoped for at Wembley but we need to turn that around.”
Next: Tottenham Reach Nadir at Gent
It’s true that Wembley has not been kind to Tottenham when they play there but now is the time to turn things around and get the ball rolling.
Spurs will be playing all of their home games at the national stadium next season, so a good showing next Thursday can go a long way to exorcising their demons when it comes to playing at Wembley.